The Ohio Department of Education has a section on its Web site devoted to families. One of the categories in the family section of the O.D.E. Web site covers how parents can get involved in their child’s learning. The Web site declares that “[f]amily involvement strengthens student learning and improves academic achievement.” I think it is important for teachers and administrators to remember the value of parental involvement. The O.D.E. provides tips for parental involvement at various levels in a student’s academic career. On the 9^th through 12^th grade portion of the Web site, the O.D.E. has brief articles with tips about how to help students adjust to high school, how to solve problems that students may have, and how to benefit from parent-teacher conferences.
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEPrimary.aspx?Page=2&TopicID=1506&TopicRelationID=1521

Action Research

The Beginners' Guide to Action Research presents four basic characteristics of action research. Action research usually is cyclic in that "similar steps tend to recur;" oftentimes, in a similar order. Another characteristic of traditional action research is that it is participative. Usually, the researcher and those who are being researched are in some type of partnership. The Guide also states that action research is qualitative because it analyzes language more often than numbers. The fourth characteristic of action research, according to the Web site, is that it is reflective. The researcher must reflect on the process as well as the outcome of the research. Some additional qualities that often are present in action research are responsiveness, emergency, and critical reflection. By responsive, the Guide means that the researcher must be able to adjust his or her research for the situations that occur. If a researcher incorporates all of the above characteristics into his or her action research, he or she will accomplish "both action outcomes and research outcomes."

Standards

One thing that I think prospective teachers should take into consideration is the help that standards give to new teachers. Without experience, it may be difficult to decipher what is appropriate for particular grade levels and what material should be used. New teachers can use standards as a base for their teaching. As their experience grows, the standards become less obvious in lesson planning, but are likely to still be a part of instruction.